It’s eating by the numbers at the new Chop Fusion restaurant in Macomb Township.

Once you pick your style (that’s Step 1), you move on to select your protein (Step 2) — vegetables, tofu, crispy or sliced chicken, beef or shrimp. Now watch your step because the last choice (Step 3) has to do with whether you want cold fusion (mild), fusion (medium) or atomic fusion (hot).

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Depending on your main course, you may need to go to step 4: will it be white, brown or fried rice, noodles or vegetables?

Chop Fusion has a kids’ menu, too. Because kids want to use chopsticks, Chop Fusion COO Christian Moffitt said there are plans to add a chopstick/fork combination utensil that let’s children try their hand at eating like grown-ups (while still managing to get food in their mouth).

Such special touches and customer service are what it’s all about, according to Moffitt and operating partner and general manager Lamar Jarbo. They’ve been putting in long hours to ensure customer satisfaction, as has Jimmy Asmar, CEO.

“We’re not a corporation or a chain. This is more complicated than putting a burger on a bun,” said Moffitt of the restaurant’s intricate Mandarin-style cooking.

With a franchise restaurant, there’s usually a standard-issue company manual and “cookbook” to follow in setting up guidelines or a menu. Being free spirits, setting their own menu meant having to spend months preparing, with staff learning techniques for wok preparation that involve the use of sesame oil and aromatics. Moffitt admits he even took one dish off the menu for a couple of weeks until he believed it was prepared properly.

Now they can rely on feedback from customers. The owners often visit customers’ tables to ensure they are satisfied. Chop Fusion seats approximately 90 patrons in booths and at tables; carry-outs account for approximately 60 to 70 percent of the business. There is also delivery service via a specially decorated Chop Fusion car, and catering is available.

They call their food “fresh casual,” with daily deliveries of local produce, along with chicken and beef; they’re also exploring more vegan choices.

“It’s expensive and labor intensive to have quality,” said Moffitt, who also oversees approximately two dozen other restaurants on a daily basis, including franchise operations.

“The restaurant business is not for everyone. You’re on call all the time.”

But both he and Jarbo call the business “exciting” and neither could imagine themselves behind a desk in a 9-to-5 job.